The increasing awareness of the necessity for safeguarding unattended personal property and valuables prompted the development of various security systems. This became a matter of particular concern with regard to innkeepers and the management of other establishments which sought to protect their guests' property. An approach that gained noteworthy acceptance involved the utilization of personal key operated in-room strong boxes. The integrity of those protective measures in maintaining effective access control was substantially impaired. A serious deficiency was that previous guests or hotel employees could duplicate keys for later unauthorized re-entry into the depositories.
In an attempt to overcome these shortcomings, wall safes were developed which contained a standardized removable door incorporating a lock cylinder such as those marketed under the trademark Telsafe and described in the pioneer U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,481,288 and 3,715,998. Other wall safe constructions with removable doors were disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,145,978, 4,148,265, 4,158,377, 4,258,632 and 4,278,033.
In accordance with the Telsafe limited access security system, a newly registered guest received a randomly selected sealed packet containing a door having a lock cylinder and a key. The door could then be used for sealing a selected safe mounted within the guest's hotel room. Each door was compatible for use with any of the strong boxes provided in each of the guest rooms. This concept provided a theft deterrent, however there were still certain inherent disadvantages. It should be apparent, for example, that the removable door which was made of heavy gauge steel was thus subject to certain weight and size limitations. As a consequence, the dimensions of the strong box were correspondingly restricted. This had an adverse effect on the storage capacity and was a limiting factor as to what items of personal property could be stored therein. A distinct shortcoming therefore of those strong boxes was that larger size or bulky objects such as cameras, cassette players and C.B. radios could not be stored therein.
The earlier filed related application provided a solution to this problem--the strong box was provided with a hinged door and thus eliminated the size restraints. The several embodiments disclosed arrangements for securing a removable lock cylinder to the swingable door. The lock cylinders were interchangeable and could be randomly distributed to each new guest and adapted for the in-room wall safe.
The present invention introduces a still further improvement wherein a lock cylinder permanently affixed to a hinged door is provided with an interchangeable lock component. This is in full consonance with the security system concept heretofore described yet provides a more convenient and reliable agency for limited access control.